BAN-W v IND-W 2nd T20I | Indian Spinners Stage Rollicking Fightback To Seal T2oI Series In Style
Harmanpreet Kaur and Nigar Sultana with T20I series trophy (Twitter)
Brief Scores: India Women 95/8 in 20 overs: Shafali Verma 19 (14); Salma Khatun 3/21 (4), Fahima Khatun 2/16 (4) BEAT Bangladesh Women 87/10 in 20 overs: Nigar Sultana 38 (55); Shafali Verma 3/15 (3), Deepti Sharma 3/12 (4), Minnu Mani 2/9 (4) by 8 runs
Shafali Verma's final overexploits with the ball have helped the Indian Women's cricket team get out of jail in a low-scoring 2nd T20I against Bangladesh and clinch the three-match series 2-0.
Defending just 95 on a very sluggish track, the Indian spinners were all over Bangladesh batters like a cheap suit.
The slide was started by off-spinner Minnu Mani (2/9 in 4 overs), who dismissed opener Shamima Sultana in the 2nd over of the innings.
Minnu was incredibly economical, and she was brilliantly supported by the experienced Deepti Sharma, who chipped in with three important wickets besides only conceding 12 runs in 4 overs.
The state of Bangladesh's struggles can be gauged from the fact that apart from skipper Nigar Sultana (38 off 55), none of their batters could register double digit scores.
In the end, it came down to scoring 10 runs in the final over against the part-time off-spin of Shafali. But, they ended up scoring just 1 at the expense of 4 wickets to get bowled out for 87 on the last delivery of the innings.
Earlier, India Women also struggled on the sluggish pitch, and could only manage 95/8 in 20 overs.
The Women in Blue got off to a good start as the opening duo of Smriti Mandhana and Shafali added 33 runs in just under 5 overs, with the latter being the aggressor.
However, their dismissals at the same score triggered a collapse that saw them add just 62 runs for the cost of 6 wickets to end up with 95/8.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored a match-winning half-century in the last game, endured a golden duck thanks to Sultana Khatun.
As it turned out, Shafali proved to be India's leading scorer- 19 off 14. As for Bangladesh, off-spinner Salma Khatun (3/21 in 4) was the pick of the bowlers.
The third and final T20I will take place at the same venue on 13th July.